Some prominent Nigerians and concerned
stakeholders on Friday condemned Thursday’s
invasion of the National Assembly in Abuja by the
police.
They described the action as shameful, disgusting,
barbaric and below the conduct expected of the
police.
The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Mr.
Abdulwahed Omar, and his Trade Union Congress’
counterpart, Mr. Bala Kaigama, faulted the
invasion and asked the Inspector-General of
Police, Mr. Suleiman Abba, to resign from office
with immediate effect.
Omar particularly faulted the explanation by the
police authorities that they mobilised to the
National Assembly in order to prevent thugs from
gaining access to the complex.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Mr. Emmanuel
Ojukwu, had said that the police only mobilised to
the complex to prevent thugs from gaining access
to the place.
But the NLC boss said the police went to the
National Assembly to do “private jobs rather than
their constitutional responsibilities.”
“We find the explanation by the police for their
conduct, spurious and puerile and not worthy of
response,” he said, adding that the House of
Representatives Speaker, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal,
who he said was the target of the police action,
should be accorded the privileges of the office he
occupies.
Kaigama flayed the police for preventing
Tambuwal from gaining access to the House,
describing it as a “feat” that could not be allowed
to happen in other climes.
Similarly, the Conference of Nigerian Political
Parties condemned the invasion, saying it was a
reminder of the violent military regime in Nigeria
during which many prominent citizens fled the
country to escape being killed or maimed by the
agents of government.
In a statement issued on Friday afternoon after
its emergency meeting in Abuja, the CNPP said it
had yet to come to terms with the violence and
rascality of the police as evidenced by the
desecration of the National Assembly.
The statement, signed by the CNPP National
Publicity Secretary, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, read,
“We have yet to understand the motive behind
the violence unleashed by the police on members
of the House of Representatives in utter violation
of the core mandate of the police to protect and
defend the people and the laws of the land.
“We wish to warn those who wittingly and
unwittingly discredit and abuse the nation’s hard
won democracy to desist forthwith from such
ignoble act.”
The CNPP, however, called on President Goodluck
Jonathan to sack the Inspector-General of Police
for his failure to call his men to order.
“In the collective interest of the country and its
fledgling democracy, we call on the President to
sack the IGP so as to absolve himself from the
insinuations gaining ground that the new police
chief is his attack-dog,” the CNPP added.
The National Leader of the All Progressives
Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, blamed the
National Assembly invasion on the President.
Tinubu said that “no commissioner of police will
ever embark on such an action without the
clearance of the Inspector-General of Police and
no IGP will order his men out here without
approval by the Presidency. Nigerians know
where the buck stops.”
He particularly asked Nigerians to hold Jonathan
responsible for the invasion.
In a statement issued by his media office, the APC
chieftain said, “The Jonathan Presidency must
take full responsibility for the attack on the
leadership of the National Assembly.
“This government cannot claim to be unaware of
what the police would do. This gangster’s antic
occurred almost at their doorstep. The Jonathan
Presidency can no longer play ignorant regarding
the noxious things done for partisan ends.
“Instead of seriously treating Boko Haram’s
incursion against our internal security, the
President’s men decided to turn the event into a
partisan and embarrassing circus. Perhaps they
saw this as a birthday present to the President.
But it is nothing but brigandage masquerading as
governance. What this Presidency does not realise
is how terribly it has exposed its pettiness and
dictatorial penchant for elevating narrow political
interests above the fate of the nation.”
A Professor of Law and a Senior Advocate of
Nigeria, Itse Sagay, asked those behind the
invasion to have a rethink in order to prevent the
whole system from crashing.
Sagay said, “Obviously, this is a major assault on
our democracy. The National Assembly is the
number one institution of democracy, so anyone
who attacks the legislature is attacking the very
source of the nation’s democracy.
“What happened today is very serious and when
you couple it with what is happening in Ekiti State,
where Governor Ayodele Fayose has sent seven
people to take over the House of Assembly as
against the constitutional provisions, then you
can see that our democracy is heading towards
destruction. So this is a very critical moment for
Nigeria and I just hope that the people who are
behind all these things would think again before
they make this whole country crash on all of us.”
The pan-Yoruba organisation, the Afenifere
Renewal Group, has warned the Federal
Government against the use of state security
agencies for political interests.
In a statement made available to Saturday
PUNCH, ARG’s Programme Officer, Mr. Segun
Balogun, quoted the group’s Chairman, Mr. Wale
Oshun, as saying that Thursday’s blockade of the
National Assembly by security operatives was a
“brazen attack on the legislature and Nigerians.”
Oshun said, “There appears to be an implicit
intent to disintegrate this country and it appears
that this is being perpetrated with the use of tax-
payer-funded security agencies.
“It means we are deceiving ourselves if we believe
we are under a democratic regime. An attack on
the legislature is an attempt to shut down
democracy and return Nigeria to autocratic rule.”
Oshun urged the government to allow institutions
to “function in support of good governance” or
put the “nation on the brink of collapse.”
He said, “We have recently experienced abuses of
the judiciary. Now it appears the next step is the
abuse of the legislature. The question is which
arm of the government is next? ARG needs to
warn that where institutions fail to function in
support of good governance, then such a nation is
on the brink of collapse.
The ruling Peoples Democratic Party wants the
IGP to unravel the circumstances surrounding the
development within the next 72 hours.
The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh
in a statement on Friday, said the “sanctity of the
National Assembly as an arm of government and
citadel of democracy must be upheld at all times
adding that the matter should not be shrouded in
controversy, sinister plots and mundane
accusations.
The statement said, “While we acknowledge that
due to the security challenges in the country, the
security agencies are within their constitutional
powers to search individuals and ensure that only
responsible and duly accredited persons gain
entrance into the National Assembly complex, we
wish to state in strongest possible terms that the
PDP is fully with the President in not condoning
any act that might indicate that the police went
beyond their bounds in the incident.”
But the police said their presence at the National
Assembly on Thursday was to stop thugs and
“never-do-wells” who besieged the premises and
assaulted policemen on lawful duty.
The police said they had arrested seven hoodlums
that assaulted and broke the leg of the aide-de-
camp to the Senate President, David Mark, during
the scuffle at the National Assembly, stressing
that the suspects would be dealt with.
Ojukwu, who addressed journalists at the Force
Headquarters in Abuja on Friday, however,
declined to identify the suspects.
Ojukwu stressed that the police acted
professionally by preventing the members of the
House of Representatives from accessing their
chambers on account of their “dishonourable
conduct,” noting that “lawmakers do not just
jump over fences and walls.”
He said, “The National Assembly is a national
asset and heritage and the Police will not allow
anyone to attack it. All the senators that entered
the premises were checked, including the Senate
President himself, but on the House of
Representatives’ side, as the Speaker was
entering, he came with many never-do-wells,
thugs, those that confirmed our intelligence that
there was going to be trouble at the National
Assembly.
“They refused to be checked, they refused to be
screened. Some of us may have seen on the
(television) screen how some of them were
shaking the gates, destroying government
property. This matter is currently under
investigation and anyone who is found to have
broken the rule will be dealt with.”